monday made it!

I didn't blog at all last week. Took a short break from doing a lot of things...

I enjoyed pure summer- you know the kind when you wake up late and do as you please! Yes, that is summer!
Of course, this "laziness" (as some would call it... the hubs included) did come with some downfalls...

I had a tendency to run to yoga and I might have taken a few days off from the the y... Hoping to catch up this week!

I did get a lot of this done though:

Park Time!

Pool time! (And yes, my daughter is breastfeeding her doll... I couldn't help but take the picture! bahaha)

Yumminess! Cookie Brownies! Try them, you won't be disappointed!

Sister time!

Happy 4th of July! (Also a made it... how cute are these 2!)

By the end of the week I did start to get myself together. I didn't have a choice. There was the 4th of July and then my baby turned 4 on Saturday! I just can't believe how big she is getting! Some of my made it this week comes from preparing for her birthday:

Rainbow cupcakes with rainbow cake! These were a hit!

The Princess!

Her extra special flip-flop bows! 

She had to have special flip flops because she got to get her very first mani/pedi!

Of course, after the mani/pedi and she put the shoes on, there was a realization that she couldn't actually see the toes because the bows were so big! She wasn't very happy with that! 

So, we survived the birthday and I even got a little something done for my classroom. This was inspired by Alisha at the Bubbly Blonde Teacher. Last Monday she used some burlap in a way I never thought. 

Paint it! Check it out:

I love this! I am definitely hanging above my writing center space. It was really easy. I actually made almost the whole thing while the kids watched Annie (a fave of mine). I cannot wait to hang this in my classroom...

In fact, I will be there this week.. preparing for the new year! I need to organize in a big bad way! 

Hopefully, I will keep you posted this week... but... no promises!

Monday Made It!

I am sure you have seen this pin on pinterest:

When I saw this I immediately pictured it on my classroom door this year! It is too awesome! So I followed the pin and found the original blog it came from: The Inspired Classroom. She has some awesome ideas on here and this is my fave! I am so excited to hang it up.

The author of that blog has made a google doc for this but it was just isn't my style. I love all the cool fonts out there so I made my own version with some different fonts. I am going to print on cardstock and take with me to Michael's to find some cute scrapbook paper for the border. 

 

Here are the steps to complete this project at home for your classroom: 

1. Click here to download my version of these phrases. 

2. Print on cardstock. 

3. Cut on black borders. 

4. Cut scrapbook paper to fit around the words as a border. (I am using black around the plain words and a coordinating color around the colorful words!)

5. Laminate. 

6. Hang and enjoy! 

I hope my kiddos are as inspired as I am when I see these signs!

Busy Week!!

This past week was nuts! My sweet baby girl has been sick since last Saturday with a croupy cough and fever! Luckily my mom could watch her all week. [Addie Mae pretty much has the best MiMi in the world!] I knew my kiddos at school would be so upset if we didn't celebrate the 100th day of school on time plus we still needed to learn about MLK! My babysitting luck finally ran out on Thursday. I couldn't find anybody to watch Addie Mae, so I had to stay home. This would have been fine but... that was the day I was suppose to be evaluated!! Bummer, right? (sarcasm!) Then, my evaluator said she would come the next morning and didn't show! I think I dodged a bullet...a Friday morning eval would have been a nightmare. We usually do math after lunch so asking my kids to do it during a normal testing time (for spelling and grammar tests) would have been so off schedule I couldn't see it going well! So, I will be having my eval this Monday at my normal math time. I am actually looking forward to it.

Even with me off on Thursday we got a lot accomplished this week. Tuesday we did some MLK art. I think everyone has done this project but I was super impressed with my kids. They don't really like being artsy (which is something I couldn't live without!) so when they got "into it" I was super excited. Usually when we do a project like this I have to make a template for every piece because their listening skills are not exactly there---if you know what I mean. With this project I only gave them the rectangle or square pieces and they had to do the cutting. They turned out adorable!

I couldn't help but crack up at the gotee (not sure how to spell that!). Too cute!

Wednesday was our 100th day of school. We had so much fun, I mean...well... they had so much fun! I have felt like a mad woman this week with Addie being sick and other hormonal issues--- this 100th day made me feel like I never want to celebrate the 100th day again!! Here are a couple activities we did:

We made crowns. I sent home 10 strips of construction paper and they had to decorate each strip with 10 things and bring them back to school. Here is mine:

They did turn out really cute!! But took a while to staple together!

Then, we drew what we would look like in 100 years. These turned out adorable! I got the template from another blog and I can't remember where! Sorry! If it's yours... please let me know!

Of course, Thursday I wasn't there but Friday was fun! We made snow from coffee filters (which they loved!).

Then, we did the questioning lesson from Babbling Abby. We did this with "Martin's Big Words". We came up with questions for and about MLK and then they completed the charts in their center groups. Most of their answers were similar but they really enjoyed this activity. I am going to have to pull it out again!

Procrastinating on my lessons for this week on polar bears and penguins! I have some ideas but kind of want them to just appear! Have a good week friends!

P.S. Don't forget to vote for my blog as the most Fascinating Teaching Blog of 2011! Thanks :)

Christmas Time is Here...

This week has been overloaded!! My final in Stats is over!! Thank goodness! Now I can focus on my job! This week we worked on Mrs. Jump's Mini Grinch Unit and the kids were so excited when we made the Grinch's. I have to say we couldn't have done it without my fabulous assistant. I don't know what I am going to do next year if I don't have her! Anyway, here are some of the cuter ones:

They loved this activity and so did I! We also made a new craft to hang from the ceiling. Last month we had origami leaves that we made. Last week we made pointsettias. I got this idea from pinterest: Click here!

This week we are going to have some gingerbread and Santa fun! Have a great weekend!

A bit busy...

I know the first weeks of school are always super busy for us but this year I feel like I haven't slept in forever. I am so looking forward to Friday!!! I had to get on here really quickly and share something so cute that my kids did today!
We have been working on short a this week and our reading book story was about cats. So we did a bubble map on cats and tomorrow we will do a little artsy activity but today we did the most adorable project that I had to share.
I have been meaning to read "Lissy's Friends" by Grace Lin and finally got to it today. The book is about a little girl who is new to school and makes origami friends. This is a great math, reading, and social studies book.

We talked about origami and then we actually made origami!! Believe it! I had 23 first graders folding paper (with the help of myself and my awesome assistant). It was awesome and the end result was so adorable!! I had to share before I hit the sack tonight...

I am so excited about how cute these little cats are and the kids were overjoyed when I told them I was going to hang them from the ceiling! I can't wait to see the final product. I am even more excited to be finding out that my kids can follow directions for making origami, and its only the 2nd full week of school. This is going to be a great year!!

p.s. I got the origami pattern from this website. Enjoy!